Horseshoes and Apple Carts
by Hetanna
Summary: Naive as ever, Pit finds himself the victim of a casual dare which lands him in not so casual consequence: he now has to endure a date with each substantial acquaintance who comes to mind. Naturally, he quickly realises where his true affections lie.
1. Palutena

**Hey guys! Originally I started writing this while I had nothing to do during free periods at school to indulge myself in a couple of different ships, hence the nature of this fic, but I decided to turn it into something a little more substantial after writing it for a little while. Since it started out as nothing serious, however, it's nothing particularly heavy, so expect fluff in places. Enjoy!**

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Pit just couldn't stop blushing. This was day one of many; he barely knew what to do with himself in this moment. Long story short, the little angel had stumbled upon the bleak end of a dare involving horseshoes and apple carts. Light-hearted fun, until he ended up losing. Now, he had to go through a romantic date with everybody he knew. That was a fun idea too. Until it ended up actually happening. He shuddered to think who would come after this. But for now, he was sitting across from his very own goddess of light, candles flickering in the dimness, awkward as anything, but with an air of complete privilege. He couldn't be any more honoured to be before someone like her in this setting.

Or rather, he couldn't be any more honoured to be before her and _only _her in this setting...

"Pit, you know this isn't for real, don't you?" Palutena said with a smile, "You look like a deer in the headlights. You should just thin of this as any other meal you've ever had at home with me. You don't act quite so reserved there, let me tell you."

Pit slowly nodded. "Well, yeah, but... When this kind of thing is with you and all..."

"I know, I know, you're completely smitten."

"What?" Pit squeaked, his posture shooting upright in an instant, "It's not like that at all!"

Palutena hummed sadly, twirling her finger. "Really? That's a shame. I thought we had something, you and me..."

Pit hesitated, blinked, and slowly waved a hand. "Well... if you feel that way as well, I suppose, maybe, we do. Just a little bit..."

Palutena held the gaze of her little angel for just a couple of moments. Then a wide smirk came over her face. "Got you," she chirped, "You're such a gullible little child."

Pit nearly fell off his chair. "How could you do that to me?" he yelped, "I'm a sensitive guy!"

"I know, I know," Palutena replied cheerily, "And that's why I do it."

"You're nearly as bad as Viridi," Pit mumbled, folding his arms and letting his eyes skim the other way. He grumbled to himself for a few moments, causing Palutena to raise a brow.

"Oh?" she said, "Thinking of other girls while you're on a date, Pit? That's not very gentlemanly of you. I might have to dock you a few points."

"Points?" Pit repeated, baffled, "It's not like this is real or anything... just like you said."

"Still, you should make an effort, don't you think? You've got this opportunity to date me, and you just can't seem to get into it. It almost makes me wonder."

"Wonder what...?"

"Whether you would take a real date with your goddess any more seriously."

"What—no!" Pit exclaimed, standing up from his seat and leaning over the table at her, his eyes wide and voice high pitched, "I would take something like that so seriously I'd give myself a stroke! I'd die for an opportunity like that, Lady Palutena! Honest, I would!"

"Then maybe you should think of this as practice," Palutena said with a wink. Pit immediately blushed brighter, and sank down into his seat lowly.

"I can never tell what you're thinking," he mumbled, "I can never tell how you feel."

"Well, do you remember what I said to you when I was under the control of the Chaos Kin, Pit?"

Pit quickly looked up, lips hanging partly open. He barely knew what to say in response to that; not only because he didn't know what exactly she was talking about, but because he truly didn't like to remember that time. "I..."

"I know, I know. It's not something you want to be talking about in a situation like this. But it has relevance, I assure you," Palutena comforted, "I said that angels could not truly know gods. And while that was indeed the Chaos Kin speaking through me, I feel there is some truth behind it."

Pit's face slowly fell. "I... I know, Lady Palutena," he said miserably, "I should apologise..."

Palutena gazed over at the angel for a little while before deciding to continue. He always took things at face value. While she had known that he would react bleakly in response to being told something like that, he had not waited to hear what more she had to say on the matter. And it made her feel terribly sorry for her angel at times. After all, Pit was so truly devoted to Palutena that he would take every word she said as the absolute truth without a second thought. That was what caused his quick emotional reactions before her actions more often than not. She felt sorry for him, for the fact that he was so easy to tease and manipulate as a result.

"Pit, I feel you're a bit of an exception," Palutena told the angel calmly, "While you may not be able to tell everything that I'm thinking or feeling, I feel you have the potential to become close enough to me to consider me an equal, Pit."

Pit's crushed face became laced with an amount of wonder and mystery as a result. Then it slowly bent into a void of horror. "Lady Palutena!" he gasped, "I could never do that! I could never drag you down to the lowly position of an angel! You shouldn't put yourself down like that!"

Palutena tutted. "I was thinking more bringing you up to my level."

"What? Me? A god?" Pit rejected the idea entirely. "There's no way I could consider myself that. It's not only technically wrong, but... well..." He licked his lips in thought for a moment. "I'm just not that great."

"That's weak, Pit," Palutena warned, "You saved everything. Literally, everything."

"Well, sure," Pit considered, "But only with your help."

"Like I said, an equal."

"Aw, Lady Palutena..."

Pit just didn't like to hear that from her. He didn't want to drag her down or drag himself up. He liked things the way they were. At least that was what he thought he thought. He didn't want to deny what Palutena said either; she was always right, after all. He felt all mixed up.

"Anyway, I'm just trying to make something out of nothing, Pit," Palutena continued, "Since you have to date me now, it's better to think that something could come of it, right?"

"You're always so good at finding the silver lining in things."

"We do live in the clouds, after all."

Pit smiled and rolled his eyes. "Guess you can't really avoid seeing it," he said, "But I _still _don't know the way you feel, Lady Palutena."

The goddess giggled, leaning on on her hands. "You can drop the 'Lady', Pit," she said, "We're on a date. Shouldn't that tell you enough? Even if it _was _against your will and mine alike. Honestly, I would've expected you to make a move on your own by now."

"So... You _do_ feel that way?"

"Which way? Left, right, up, down?" Palutena teased innocently, "Or maybe every way at once?" The side of her mouth perked, a little sparkle in her eyes as she gazed over at the predictably confused and baffled angel. She laughed softly to herself and reached over to touch his hand, causing a visible reaction from the other. "Let's just eat for now. Then maybe I'll point you in the right direction."


	2. Viridi

"I can't believe I'm actually giving up my important time as a goddess for something as pointless and juvenile as this," Viridi complained, "And it's so profane! To be dating a mere angel like this. Someone else's angel, for that matter."

"I know," Pit sighed, "I'd much rather be back in Lady Palutena's company right now too."

Viridi gasped and gritted her teeth, hitting the angel promptly around the heat with the back of her hand. "Dummy! No wonder you never get any girls."

"Okay, okay, okay! Jeez!" Pit huffed, straightening the laurel crown that had been knocked off its perch on his head, "Fine, do you want me to act like Arlon instead?"

"If by that you mean like a civilised, eloquent and proper gentleman, then sure, go ahead."

Pit rolled his eyes, finding this just as ridiculous as anybody would, but at least he got to make fun of a former enemy in the process. He cleared his throat, bent at the waist and secured Viridi's hand gently in his own palm.

He looked up at the girl whose level he had lowered beyond, a sane look in his eyes, though still youthful and mischievous behind their glossy finish. "Should it be that the fair maiden would wish to accompany me on an evening stroll?" he asked, voice laced with a pompous exaggeration. Though by some miracle, Viridi didn't seem to take it as such. In fact, she seemed almost captivated by the façade. Pit inwardly gulped. Could it have been that she actually had a thing for Arlon?

"Y- yes," she said eventually, "It should be that way, indeed."

Pit found himself linking arms with her. It was an uncomfortable thing, not only due to their height difference when standing upright, but the fact that he felt like he was embodying someone else who Viridi would much rather have been with at that moment. It wasn't that Pit wanted that attention all to himself; it was the mere fact that he felt so bad for playing with Viridi and her feelings in this way; he would have felt the same if it was anybody else in the world.

All he could do to make himself feel better in that regard was imagine himself that Viridi was his own goddess in this moment. Then at least they would be even.

Pit closed his eyes momentarily, trying to conjure up the image of Palutena in his head. It was not a difficult thing to do. Palutena was usually there in his dreams at night regardless, so it was just natural for her image to appear behind closed eyes. Her smooth, endless locks of flowing grassy hair and her intricately detailed frock and armour; all of it flooded to him at once and he was lost in it.

Viridi quite harshly cleared her throat. Pit immediately snapped out of his idle reverie and secured his grip on Viridi's arm. The two walked then in near silence.

Pit liked the way the Overworld looked. He'd brought Viridi to the most open field he could find. He thought she'd appreciate the nature here. There were flowers of all kinds that wouldn't grow back in Skyworld. In fact, now that he saw so much colour in one place, he realised that Skyworld, while beautiful and pure in its own right, was actually pretty bland. It was very easy to get lost there, because everything looked so similar. Everything was white or grey or gold, but here, the grass was lush and green and the flowers were of all colours he could think of. The cities had giant neon signs that Pit supposed would say something interesting if he could only read them. And the sun looked so much smaller from here, so the clouds weren't drowned by its golden blaze.

"It's as if a Reset Bomb just dropped here," Viridi murmured, "It's like a little pocket of the world that no human has ever touched. It's perfect."

Pit scoffed. "No, if a Reset Bomb dropped here, then the weeds and branches would be all out of control and kill everything. This is way peaceful-er."

Viridi shot him a fierce glance. "I'm sorry, good sir, but I don't think I heard you correctly. Care to repeat that?"

Pit stiffened. "Oh, uh, I mean..." He cleared his throat once more. "Is the human influence really so destructive, Mistress Viridi?"

Viridi sighed. "Of course it is. I still haven't forgiven them, you know. I might not go after them with a whole factory of Reset Bombs again, but I _will _come back someday. I will return this world to nature. That's just my job."

Pit paused a moment. He hadn't really thought of it that way. He'd always been on the humans' side, so he'd never stopped to think about how it must have felt from the enemies' side. Viridi wasn't such a bad girl. He'd learnt that over time. But she still held her own values. Because that was just what she was created to do. If she didn't value nature above all else, then she wouldn't be the goddess of nature. And that would completely eradicate her reason for existing. It only took a moment of pondering for Pit to realise that if all the light and happiness was removed from the world, then his goddess, and he too, would no longer have a purpose. This was why power struggles occurred between the gods. Because all of them wanted to remain relevant and keep doing what they were created to do.

"But, Mistress Viridi," Pit continued, "Do you not think nature can exist in harmony with the humans?"

"Of course it can't. They were created by nature itself, I guess, but even within nature there are anomalies. Humans were created as a mistake. Sure, they were made to take care of every other living thing and develop the world into something more complex than it was in the beginning, but he fact that they strayed from doing that just proves to me that we need to start over again. And at least teach them to live their lives the way they were intended, if we can't just get rid of them and start with a new batch."

Pit furrowed his brow. "Forgive me," he said, "But that doesn't seem the most natural course of action either."

Viridi looked at Pit with a question in her eyes. Pit looked the other way shyly. He couldn't portray the way he felt, and what he had to say, if he was acting like this. Arlon would never say these things. He was as devoted to Viridi as he himself was to Palutena. Viridi needed to hear these things from him, not Arlon. He quietly broke the façade in his voice.

"Just look at all this, Viridi," he said, releasing the girl's arm. He bent at the knees and lowered to the level of the flowers, gently caressing the petals of that closest to him. "You say it's only this way because it hasn't been touched by humans. I don't know whether this place in particular has or hasn't, but I do know that nature this organised could never have occurred without help in a million years."

"What are you saying...?"

"I'm saying that even where humans do live, things like this can still happen. There are humans who love nature as much as you do, Viridi. Without humans, nature like this will whither and die. Nature on its own is chaotic and uncontrollable. Kind of like your Reset Bombs, I guess. But it happens everywhere, all the time. Think of bushes. They grow just fine without humans, because they've got the sun and the rain and that's all they need. But humans come by and give them a little trim here and there. Maybe for their own benefit, sure—to make them look a little prettier—but doesn't that help them to grow even better in the end?"

"But what if those bushes were meant to grow and expand at will?" Viridi retorted, "What if the flower fields were meant to spread far and wide and not fit into the specific patterns humans want for them? Can you imagine oppression like that? Being forced into a life you don't want to live because someone else has the power to force it?"

"But, Viridi," Pit said with a faint smile, "Isn't that what you want to do to the humans?"

Viridi paused for a moment, and turned her back. "I don't have to listen to this," she said, "I'm a goddess. I don't have to live by the same morals as any other living thing."

"That isn't setting a very good example, though, right?"

"What?"

"You're the goddess of nature. You're the mother of all living things. As a mother, it's your job to set an example to all your children, right? And if you don't live by any morals, is it really fair to expect that they will?"

Viridi didn't know what to say to him. She didn't understand how something as insignificant as a date had turned into something like this. She was being talked down to by an angel—someone else's angel—and she was standing for it. She was a million times more powerful than he could ever hope to be. She could feel her rage boiling with every word he said.

In an instant, she raised a hand to Pit and forced through her fingertips the power to make things grow through the air. A vine of thorns appeared, Pit quickly diving out of the way before it could hit him. Then Viridi let the vine drop. It coiled in on itself and then slowly faded away. Pit panted slightly, looking at Viridi from a slight distance with caution. He waited for her to speak.

"I think this date is over, Pit," she eventually murmured, "I don't want you to get hurt."

Pit looked between her and the ground, as if he was expecting a root to just spring up out of nowhere and impale him. But no such thing came.

"I said this is over," Viridi repeated, "I know you were just trying to make polite conversation, but your idea of polite is my idea of futile. Nobody has control over me. _That _is the natural way of life."

Pit didn't want to leave. Not on this note. But he couldn't say a thing, before Viridi activated the power of flight and sent him zooming up into the sky at full velocity. Viridi directed him towards Skyworld, and safely deposited him there before dropping her control over him. But she refused to keep contact with him after that, instead ignoring his attempts. She wanted time to think, alone.

She looked over the flower field. She lifted her hand. A ring of light slowly appeared in view, and closed in around the entire area. A force field. No human could ever break through. She'd prove that this little pocket of beautiful nature could survive without human intervention. She would prove Pit wrong.


	3. Magnus

"Well, this is awkward," Magnus mused as he stretched his arms over his head, "Not that I mind it too much, mind you."

"I hope you understand..." Pit said quietly. His hands hung in front of his body shyly; he looked truly embarrassed with himself. He'd never imagined he'd have to ask another man on a date. He'd not had anything against the idea, particularly. It'd just never even crossed his mind, and he didn't know how Magnus was going to think of him as a result, for he didn't know if the same thing had crossed Magnus' mind at any point in his life either.

"Sure I understand," Magnus said with a smile, "It's not like it means nothin'. But it'll be nice to catch up with you all the same."

"What, really?"

"Sure thing. Been a while and some stuff's happened since Hades went down. Nothin' spectacular or anything," Magnus continued, "What about you? Anything new going on up in the land upstairs?"

"Oh, well... nothing except this, I guess," Pit hummed, racking his brains for interesting news, "Just a lot of peace and happiness like always." He paused, remembering the previous date. But he didn't really see it having any great consequence; not at the moment. Viridi was just... easy to anger, he supposed. He smiled up at Magnus fully. "And that's how I like it."

Magnus snarled slightly. "Sounds boring to me," he huffed, "Don't you tell me you didn't find the whole slaying evil thing a little exhilarating at least."

"Oh, don't get me wrong. It's not like I don't like action. I wouldn't be the captain of Lady Palutena's guard if that was the case," Pit retorted, "But I'm an angel. Peace lets me know I've been doing my job. And it's a habitat angels are supposed to reside in, right?"

"Don't ask me. You're the angel here."

Pit chuckled sadly, his answer coming hesitantly. "I don't really know much about angels," he mumbled.

"What? How's that possible?" Magnus asked, bemused.

Pit didn't really know how to say what was on his mind. It was kind of unnecessary to bring up, he knew. Especially on an occasion as informal as a date—even one that wasn't even real or voluntary. He was quiet for a few more seconds than was natural. So Magnus leaned down to his level suspiciously.

"Why don't you?" he asked slowly.

"There... aren't any but me," Pit admitted sheepishly.

Magnus' eyes sharpened and brow furrowed. That was something he wasn't exactly expecting. Pit could see this. He wondered if Magnus was even born when it happened. He didn't exactly know how old Magnus was; he was a human, after all, and the one thing he did know was that angels didn't die of old age, and as such their ageing process was far slower than humans'. Pit was many years old and he supposed he probably beat Magnus in the age department. But he would make no assumptions. He supposed that Magnus simply did not know.

"The first time Medusa rose to power, the rest of the angels in our army were turned to stone. I survived, because I wasn't flying up in the sky in battle like they were. They fell to their deaths. They couldn't be resurrected. There was no way they could. Their stoned bodies were crushed into pieces where they fell. I suppose that even if I'd been turned to stone then, I'd have been able to be turned back since there wouldn't have been a drop. But... I was already imprisoned in the Underworld when the great battle between the angels and Medusa was going on."

He quickly ducked his head down, almost flinching into the action.

"I'm sorry," he said suddenly, "We don't have to talk about this, really."

"Huh," Magnus grunted, "Dark stuff. Bet you're pretty glad you can't fly now, huh?"

"Well, in a way, I suppose so," Pit agreed, slightly raising his head, "I got to stay Lady Palutena's personal guard with no competition. I lived on and managed to save everyone after Medusa turned bad. I could prove my skills even though the angels had been pretty doubting of a kid's strength back then, but..." He sighed. "I was a kid after all... And I didn't like knowing that a child who couldn't even fly was the only angel going to survive. It didn't feel natural. I was surely the only one meant to die."

"Now, now," Magnus scolded, "Don't be saying any of that. You, the captain of Palutena's army, this little kid who's got the maturity of an adult... at least when he wants to... You, the guy who managed to plough through all that? I think you were the only one ever meant to survive."

Pit blushed. "You think...?"

"I think." Magnus nodded, "Chin up, kid. You might be the only angel left and that's kinda sad and all. But look at where you are now. You met me, didn't ya?"

"Wh- what's that supposed to mean?"

Magnus burst out laughing. "We're on a date, right? Little banter like that ain't gonna hurt nobody."

Pit slowly smiled and nodded, a sheepish but guiltily pleased look going over his face. "Sure."

Magnus took Pit back to his place.

"So how's it been going, this date thing, I mean?" Magnus asked flippantly on the way, "Who's it been so far?"

"Uh... Just Lady Palutena and Viridi so far," Pit said diffidently, "Lady Palutena kept teasing me, and Viridi and I ended up in a bit of a tizzy... Nothing serious, I guess."

"Not a natural, I gather," Magnus said with a smirk, "So who is it you like? Not me, hm?"

"Well, it's Lady Palutena, of course." Pit didn't seem to have much trouble relating this to anybody other than her. "Of course, I don't know if it would ever work..."

"D'aw," Magnus cooed, "But I can just imagine you two. You act like you're married half the time anyway."

"That's just the way an angel and goddess are supposed to act," Pit informed, "If I liked anybody except her, it would mean I wasn't totally devoted to her, after all. And an angel must always have only his own goddess in his sights."

"You're taking that too seriously, for starters," Magnus scoffed, "I know you're always taking things literally, and you always want to do things perfectly and all, but surely there's nothing like that in the rulebook."

"I haven't checked, to be honest," Pit sighed, "I just... don't want to lose Lady Palutena. I'm happy only to serve her. That's what I want to live for. Not just as an angel. But as a guy as well."

"You really are in love with her, huh?" Magnus said pitifully.

Pit slowly nodded. It was the truth. He was one hundred percent in love with the goddess of light and he wasn't proud nor ashamed of it. It was just the way it was. The more he dated other people as a result of this stupid dare, the more he realised he wanted to be back in the arms of his goddess instead.

He thought back to their date together. It had ended on rather a high note, he thought. But even despite everything, she still hadn't told him how she felt like she had promised him. At least, he thought she had promised him—that she would let him know after the date. But after they had retired for the night, Pit realised that she had still left him hanging on that question. He could only think the worst. That she was not planning to mirror his feelings after all.

"Kid," Magnus said, waving a hand in front of Pit's face, "What's wrong with you?"

"Oh... Sorry," Pit said meekly, "I was just daydreaming a little."

"Suits you," Magnus grunted, "But you didn't really answer my question."

Pit smiled, and slowly nodded. The words he spoke were now the one hundred percent confident truth. "I love Lady Palutena," he stated, "But I know we don't have a chance. I've accepted that." And that was where the lies started. "It's okay. I'm an angel. I'm not meant to love or be loved in that way. I'm just supposed to symbolise that love and happiness for everyone else. Viridi told me once what angels really were. Servants. Errand spirits. But I'd known that all my life. She just drove it home. I live to serve and that's all my life is there for; that's the reason it was created. And I'm perfectly okay with that. I wasn't designed to think in any other way."

Magnus sighed, looking over Pit with unbelieving eyes. "You know I can't believe any of that, right?"

"Why's that?" Pit asked hesitantly.

"For starters, that makes it seem like you've got nothing about you that a robot wouldn't have. But you've got an attitude. You've got personality, free will, like any human or animal does. And you've certainly got emotions. You can't deny that. I've seen 'em. Oh, dear god, I've seen 'em."

Pit rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"And any creature with emotion can love, right?"

"Sure thing. Love makes the world go 'round."

"So how are you an exception to that, huh?"

"Well," Pit started, as though he was going to go on, but then gave up in that very same breath, "I don't know. I totally made that up."

"Yeah, I know," Magnus replied, "That's what I was getting at. I'm not stupid, Pit."

Pit shrugged. "Still."

"Still, what?"

"Lady Palutena and I..."

"It could never work, right?"

"Yeah. Despite everything."

"So what're you gonna do about it?"

Pit paused in thought. He hadn't really thought about that. On one hand he didn't want to move on, because at any point, Palutena could finally meet the terms of her promise and tell him her feelings towards him. If that happened, he still wanted to have her and only her in his own sights; if he had started to stray at that point, the sense of obligation towards taking her up on her feelings' offer would still overpower him, due to his binds to her as her angel. But he wouldn't be able to be totally happy then. On the other side of the coin, there was the agony of waiting for her forever, and never hearing her heart sing if she never delivered on the promise she made.

He then realised that neither of those options would lead to hurting Palutena. Instead, both of them could potentially lead to his own pain and loss. That, of all things, made him smile. Either way he went, his decision would not hinder his beautiful goddess' life. That was what he lived for even outside of his romantic ventures.

As such it didn't matter what happened. He would end this struggle as soon as possible as a result.

"I'm going to ask for Lady Palutena's feelings as soon as I'm through with all these stupid dates," he decided, "And whatever way she feels, I'll graciously accept it."

"Damn, that's brave."

"It is?" Pit asked innocently. He didn't know what Magnus was getting at. Magnus clearly saw this. And he didn't think it right to dampen his spirit with explanation on the matter at this moment.

"Never mind. You'll find out soon enough."

"R- right." In truth, Pit no longer wished to speak of this. He was starting to get hot and red in the face just thinking about it.

Magnus patted the angel on the head with a smile. "Anyway, you wanna get on with this 'date'?" he offered. He could sense the discomfort building in the other. And of all things, it was an odd feeling—but he liked to feel the angel's happiness rather than his sadness.

He supposed the angel had just had an effect on him.

"Sure thing..." Pit replied quietly.


End file.
